Soccer:Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle is expected to be in the Wolves squad for Saturday's Premier League clash with Sunderland. The frontman has been out of action sincer suffering knee ligament damage against Macedonia on March 26th and his absence threatened to derail his club's push for Premier League survival.
Mick McCarthy's side initially struggled to adapt without Doyle, but bounced back last weekend with a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion that moved them out of the relegation zone to 17th.
The form of Steven Fletcher and fellow Irish squad member Stephen Ward means Doyle is likely to be among the substitutes for the 12.45pm kick-off at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, but his availability will be a big fillip for Wolves and Ireland.
With another crucial Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia set to take place in Skopje on June 4th, manager Giovanni Trapattoni will be encouraged by the sight of his number nine back in action.
The Italian has already had to cope with the withdrawals of Damien Duff and Keiren Westwood, while Richard Dunne is suspended for the game. He also has worries over defenders Seán St Ledger and Darren O'Dea, and will be hopeful Ciaran Clark is back in the Aston Villa squad this weekend, having sat out last week's game against Wigan Athletic with a hamstring strain.
Ireland face Northern Ireland and Scotland in the Carling Nations Cup before the trip to Macedonia. Nigel Worthington's side will visit the Aviva Stadium on May 24th and Scotland are the guests five days later.
Another Irishman in the Wolves squad alongside Ward and Doyle, is Stephen Hunt, himself only recently returned from a long-term lay-off.
Ward, who will hope to win his first Irish cap in Dublin this month, was impressed by his compatriot's performance in last weekend's win over the Baggies - another positive for Trapattoni in the absence of Duff and Aiden McGeady, who will miss the Dublin games after being prevented from travelling by his club Spartak Moscow.
"Hunty was like a Duracell battery," said Ward. "He was let off his leash but that was what Hunty is all about. He's a fantastic footballer and his work ethic and enthusiasm is unbelievable, but he also has great quality.
"He put in two great balls for the first two goals. It's nice to see him back and he justified his selection."
In contrast to McCarthy, Sunderland's Steve Bruce will be without an entire starting XI for the game.
With loan signing Sulley Muntari having returned to parent club Inter Milan and Anton Ferdinand joining the casualty list with a hamstring problem, Bruce will struggle to fill the substitutes’ bench even if he uses all his youngsters.
Craig Gordon, Titus Bramble, Michael Turner, David Meyler, Fraizer Campbell are all out with knee injuries, while Kieran Richardson (fractured fibula), Lee Cattermole (back), Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck (both hamstring) remain on the sidelines. Marcos Angeleri is consulting a specialist in Argentina over his knee problem.
Provisional Sunderland squad: Mignolet, Carson, Onuoha, Mensah, Bardsley, Riveros, Henderson, Malbranque, Elmohamady, Sessegnon, Zenden, Colback, Noble, Knott, Adams, Lynch.
Provisional Wolves squad:Hennessey, Hahnemann, Stearman, Craddock, Berra, Mancienne, Mouyokolo, Elokobi, Foley, Guedioura, Henry, Jones, Milijas, Jarvis, Hunt, Hammill, O'Hara, Kightly, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher, Ward, Vokes, Doyle.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)